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Press Release

Israeli Writer Michal Govrin in Conversation with Norman Manea

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Human Rights Project and the Jewish Studies Program at Bard present a conversation between Israeli writer Michal Govrin and noted exiled Romanian writer Norman Manea, Francis Flournoy Professor in European Culture and writer in residence at Bard College, on Thursday, November 8. The program, free and open to the public, begins at 7:00 p.m. in the room 102 of the F. W. Olin Humanities Building.
Michal Govrin is an Israeli writer, poet, and theater director. Born in Tel Aviv, her father was one of Israel’s first pioneers, and her mother survived the Holocaust. She studied literature and theater at Tel Aviv University and received a Ph.D. from the University of Paris. Govrin writes poetry and fiction, and is also a theater director, specializing in Jewish theater and ritual. She teaches drama at the Jerusalem School for Visual Theater, is academic chair of the theater department at Emunah College, and frequently lectures abroad. She received the Margalit Prize for Theater Direction in 1977.
Govrin has published eight books of poetry and fiction, including the novel The Name (HaShem), which received the Kugel Literary Prize in Israel, and, in its English translation, was nominated for the Koret Jewish Book Award. Govrin’s other works include Hold on to the Sun, Stories and Legends, and three books of poetry That Very Hour, That Night’s Seder, and Words’ Bodies, all widely anthologized in Hebrew and several other languages. Her book of prose poetry, The Making of the Sea: a Chronicle of Interpretation, was published with original etchings of the Israeli great painter, Liliane Klapish, and received the Tel Aviv Foundation Award. Body of Prayer by David Shapiro, Govrin, and Jacques Derrida was published at The Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York. Govrin’s most recent novel, Snapshots (Hevzekim), received the 2003 ACUM Prize for the book of the year. Her essays have appeared in magazines and anthologies in several languages.
Norman Manea, the acclaimed Romanian writer who came to United States in 1988, is the author of more than 14 volumes of fiction and essays. He has received Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, and has been awarded Italy’s International Nonino Prize for Literature. His book The Hooligan’s Return was awarded the 2006 Prix Médicis Étranger, France’s most important prize for foreign literature. Manea’s work has been translated into more than 15 languages. In spring 2006, he was elected as a member of the Berlin Academy of Art in the literary department. He lives with his wife in New York City.
For additional information about the program, call 845-758-7110 or e-mail hrp@bard.edu.
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(11/1/07)